Overwhelmed funeral homes are in crisis as coronavirus deaths surge

At Perry’s Funeral Home in Newark, maximum storage capacity is 35 bodies. As of Sunday, the home had 40 — the extras needed to be moved to an offsite facility.“The phones are ringing off the hook,” manager Sam Arnold said. “The staff is overwhelmed."Like many funeral homes in North Jersey, Arnold’s business is now in crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the industry scrambles to keep pace with a spiking Garden State death toll. COVID-19-related fatalities have surpassed 1,000 in barely a month, hospitals are overloaded with bodies awaiting pick-up and crematoriums are backlogged, business ...

Read More